“To the person who does not know where he wants to go there is no favorable wind.” — Seneca

Vision is critical to higher education. Even as we ground students in long-standing theories and ideas, we prepare them for their future careers and lives. We can envision the possibilities of the future and ways to prepare our students even as we adapt our campus to their perspectives and understanding of the world. We ask students to adopt a growth mindset and we must as well. This includes our ability to learn about the students we are teaching and their generational perspectives on the world.

Last year, Daniela Mansbach, Associate Professor in Political Science and Gender Studies Coordinator, facilitated an amazing conversation on gender and the use of gender pronouns. For example, “xhe” is a non-binary pronoun and “they” is now used as a singular pronoun. We also talked about how gender has been shaped by our own generations, experiences, and perspectives on the world. Our students reflect much more diverse perspectives on gender; we must learn and adapt to those perspectives to better support students in their identities.

The conversation last spring led to the purchase of “Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric” by CETL and succeeding conversations about gender and what it means to our interactions with students. This summer, we hosted a viewing to a packed room from folks in a diversity of roles.

Our next part of the Gender Revolution conversation is TOMORROW (Tuesday, 11/14) from 5 – 7 p.m. Why attend? Discussion will be integrated into portions of the video, with opportunities to share ideas on what our learning means to our work inside and outside the classroom. As a community, we will generate concrete strategies in working with students and expanding our own learning. If you have not attended previous sessions, please feel free to join us!

If you cannot attend this session but would like to see the video and the National Geographic issue, Gender Revolution, contact cetl@uwsuper.edu, or contact Nicole or Monica in CETL.

Additional upcoming events

Please see the attached flyers for Native American Heritage Month and Diversity events this fall.

Both events below are in CETL (Swenson 2074); light refreshments will be served.

The Well-being Community of Practice meets next Wednesday, November 22 from noon – 12:50 p.m. The topic for this session is “Cultivating a Character Strengths Focus”. Character Strengths are the positive parts of your personality that impact how you think, feel and behave and are the keys to you being your best self. When individuals are aware of their strengths, and have the opportunity to use them within their work or school day, they are happier and more engaged. Come learn how to identify, use and benefit from the VIA Charter Strengths Assessment.

CETL events are winding down to better support faculty and staff during the final weeks of the semester. We are happy to consult with you on various teaching and learning interests and needs including instructional design/development, technology integration and media production. Please feel free to contact Monica, Del or Tom. See more details at https://www.uwsuper.edu/cetl/about/services.cfm.